World War Z

An Oral History of the Zombie War

By: Max Brooks

Narrated by: Max Brooks, Alan Alda, John Turturro, Rob Reiner

Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of 30 million souls, to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet.

He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the 12-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.

©2006 Max Brooks (P)2006 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Winner of Audio Publishers Association 2007 Audie Award, Multi-Voiced Performance
• Audie Award Finalist, Audiobook of the Year, 2007

"Hard to put down." (Publishers Weekly)

"A literate, ironic, strangely tasty treat." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Horror fans won't be disappointed: like George Romero's Dead trilogy, World War Z is another milestone in the zombie mythos." (Booklist)

A good read and as an audible.

loved this title when I read it the first time. iwould recommend thua title.

Why abridged?!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I read this book as soon as it came out in print and was so excited when I found a copy available on audio so my boyfriend (long time zombie fanatic but not a reader) could listen and enjoy as well. Imagine my surprise when we flew through the book and some of my favorite parts (like the description of the fall of Tokyo or the rise of the Holy Russian Empire) were gone! I felt so cheated!

Love the book, the story and performance are phenomenal but just beware: you're paying for half of a book. :(

Any additional comments?

Abridged books = mortal sin

We need the unabridged version!

What did you like best about World War Z? What did you like least?

The best thing was using different actors for the different characters. The fact that it was abridged was very disappointing!

What other book might you compare World War Z to and why?

Very different than any other book that I can think of.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Having different voices really brought the characters to life

Was World War Z worth the listening time?

Yes and no. I had to go out and immediately buy the book to read it unabridged.

Any additional comments?

Bring out an unabridged version!

Written like a bunch of first-person news reports

Interesting stories, from the perspectives of many different characters. Not a tongue-in-cheek humorous zombie story at all. Has some memorable anecdotes that do a convincing job of portraying very realistically what the many worldwide reactions to a real mass infection outbreak would be.

👍🏻

Not often I can say I liked the movie better. Not to say this is a bad book, It was easier to follow the movie.

The best take on the zombie theme

Max Brooks is by far the king of survival novels when it comes to the threat of the undead. His ability to capture almost every aspect of human civilization and tie the world together truly is an art. The witty dialog and characters keep me coming back to listen to this story again and again. If you are into the concept of an undead world and reading the tails of those who survived, this will be your novel

Not enough

I love the whole WWZ story, but i like all the other comments common complaint. I should have looked for the unabridged version. Still a wonderful story. Wish there were more like this, it really flows so smoothly. The movie did not do this story justice.

Compelling story, wonderfully narrated.

I heard of "World War Z" when the movie came out. I usually avoid zombie stories entirely, apart from a few of the old black and white, more melodramatic, films. A podcast (Philosophers in Space) reviewed it and recommended it, so I decided to give it a chance.

This was not at all what I expected. The premise (a man collecting stories from the Z-war times) done as a sequence of interviews with various people from around the world, makes this a psychological study that is surprisingly uplifting and hopeful, despite the desperate times it accounts.

World War Z is the best story I have read in well over a year. Highly recommended for the writing and the narration talent.

Genius

it was fabulous, some of the accents were very think and hard to pick up little words or phrases being said. But, captivating none the less. love the Brooks Boys.

Release Unabridged Version

I failed to see it was abridged. I now feel slighted and wouldn't have purchased it had I realized it. Abridged needs to be parenthetically notated in the title. The story and performance were both excellent.